Surface waves on metal-dielectric metamaterials

Abstract

In this paper we analyze surface electromagnetic waves supported at an interface between an isotropic medium and an effective anisotropic material that can be realized by alternating conductive and dielectric layers with deep subwavelength thicknesses. This configuration can host various types of surface waves and, therefore, can serve as a platform allowing many applications for surface photonics. Most of these surface waves are directional and their propagation direction is sensitive to permittivities of the media forming the interface. Hence, their propagation can be effectively controlled by changing a wavelength or material parameters. We discover that two new types of surface waves with complex dispersion exist for a uniaxial medium with both negative ordinary and extraordinary permittivities. Such new surface wave solutions originate from the anisotropic permittivities of the uniaxial media, resulting in unique hyperbolic-like wavevector dependencies.